Harvard’s Incoming Class Is Majority Non-White

Barack Obama is pictured as a student at Harvard University Law School

Harvard University, one of the world’s leading universities that has educated more U.S. presidents than anywhere else, has an incoming class of freshman that will be one of its most diverse in recent years with a majority of non-white students.

The racial breakdown is as follows: Asian Americans make up 22.2%, followed by African Americans at 14.6%, Hispanic or Latino students at 11.6%, Native Americans at 1.9% and Native Hawaiians at 0.5%

“To become leaders in our diverse society, students must have the ability to work with people from different backgrounds, life experiences, and perspectives. Harvard remains committed to enrolling diverse classes of students,” said Rachael Dane, spokeswoman for the university, in a statement. “Harvard’s admissions process considers each applicant as a whole person, and we review many factors, consistent with the legal standards established by the US Supreme Court.”

It’s important to note, however, that this isn’t a first in school history. In fact, it was last year that Harvard actually topped this year’s number, accepting a class that was 51.4% minority.

The milestone figures come just days after Harvard was drawn into a controversy surrounding affirmative action between the United State Justice Department and the New York Times, which claimed the justice department was preparing to sue campuses with affirmative action admissions policies, as it feels they are biased against white applicants.